Final Day, Wrap up.

We lived! Hallelujah! We survived treacherous roads, crazy drivers, and chilly winds.  We landed safely at the Milwaukee Airport approximately at 5:40, twenty minutes ahead of schedule! Thank you all for taking the time to read the San Fran Blog, i hope you enjoyed it. Maybe i'll write in here once in awhile during college, and keep you updated. But thats a wrap up!



Much Love. <3 

Day Seven; Deadman's Curve...

Muir Woods. 

Mom & Dad feeding their new pigeon friends at the pier. 

ferry view.

We were almost dead people on our journey today..We went on a tour bus to Muir Woods, and that was the CRAZIEST BUS DRIVER I HAVE EVER MET! okay, picture this: driving up winding and twisting hills that are hundreds and hundreds of feet up & we're just right along the edge..where we can see the edge of our lives. it was very scary lets just say. we finally survived deadman's curves and reached Muir Woods, and boy was that beautiful.  I even got to see an otter! & then i saw an otter otter..tee hee pun on words if you get my terrible humor. It was very peaceful until there was this very rude women who was calling her son names & being disrespectful to him.  She walked away too soon, other wise i would smacked that girl silly! okay, maybe not smack..but you get the picture. Finally after the mostly peaceful walk, we went back to the bus and headed to Sausalito, a very nice town.  Its kind of a smaller version of San Fran and richer.  oh, and the weather there was absolutely perfect, sunny with a slight breeze.  The views by the ocean were amazing, you know me and my views of the ocean, gotta love them! we spent quite awhile downtown Sausalito, and i even gave my mom's leftovers to a homeless man, then i later got him some water since it was warm for him. He seemed very grateful, and we also believed he was blind.  I'm so glad that i got to help another homeless person. since we left the crazy tour bus man, we took a ferry back to san fran.  that was really fun, windy, and gorgeous. going on a ferry is a must if you go to san fran! we now finish up the night with some last minute shopping and eating. Flying home tomorrow & i'm excited to see everyone! (:

Day Six; Crashing.

Pacific Ocean

Neat house? 

Pebble Beach Golf Course

Waves crashing that is, don’t worry no one got hurt in the process of writing this new post. Once again we rented a nifty rental car and head out to the roads of California. We headed to the lovely city of Carmel. The part i actually thought was the best was the absolutely breathtaking view from the highway.  We took Highway 1, which is right along the Pacific coast so we got beautiful views on our entire trip up. (yes, i took plenty of pictures) At one stop i even think we saw penguins,, okay now that i look at the pictures i think they're just look-a-likes.. but hey i got excited. This was actually a three hour car trip that i actually didn’t mind, and that’s definitely a first...i hate long car rides, and long car rides for me qualify as  30 minutes, lol, but this was totally worth it.  anywhos, once we reached Carmel, and no it is not a chewy tasty treat, its pronounced Car-Mell, it was very cute. In my mother’s words, “its so quaint!” and she is right, lots of flowers, shops, cafes, and little houses perfectly decorated. We found a nice little restaurant called Basil, mmm mmm good, their flour-less chocolate cake is to die for! the frosting was as thick as the cake, and lets just say it was a tall delectable cake. After we stuffed ourselves, we decided to walk off the weight by doing what we do best, shopping! Unfortunately, there were very little purchases. I, however, fell in LOVE with a Coach bag..yeahh i know crazy right? but it was gorgeous, a soft purple leather bag with lots of pockets and nifty compartments, and i do love my compartments! Oh and the best part was it was only $139.00...to bad i only had $50...So if anyone wants to be super generous give it to me as a back to school, labor day, fall, halloween, thanksgiving, or christmas gift..i’d be very glad to accept ;), i’ll just give you the details! After our browsing we did some driving, and drove past Pebble Beach Golf Course and the ocean, which was beautiful! Also the houses along the coast are so cute.. i could just put them in my pocket..literally, some of them were tiny! Oh i don’t think i mentioned this before, but Carmel is a dog town, almost everyone has dogs, tiny, big, furry, hairless, adorable, not so adorable, you name it! So a shout out to our wittle annie boo, woof! oh and i can’t forget independent Pumpkin...well she’s pumpkin. but don’t worry babies, mamma will be home soon! Wait, i just sent a shout out to two animals that will have no access to this, and most importantly can’t read..Obviously i think i need some sleep after this long day..only one more full day left! 

Day Five; Transportation.

This macy's is so big i couldn't even
 fit it in the picture!

These hearts were all over the union
square with different designs 

Getting legit transportation in San Francisco is difficult, especially when you want to get to the Union Square. We first thought it would be pretty neat to take a cable car..too bad the wait for them was over an hour. Then we decided taking an F-line train that would take us to Union Square. A F-line train is like a bus on a cable line.  We finally found the right one & my parents were lucky enough to find a seat, i however had to awkwardly hover over them. After several stops the f-line train was crammed pack with people.. i'm not even exaggerating, i think i had an inch of breathing room, just think of 20 crazy chickens in one little cage..yeah thats what it was like. once we finally got to the union square we found a little cafe called Cafe Mason. From the sound of it, it definitely didn't seem like an italian restaurant. but it definitely was, even the waitresses sounded very italian. the meal was delicious, we all had typical italian pasta dishes. Then we proceeded and went to a HUGE Victoria secret store...there were levels to it! after that we walked to the biggest Macy's ever, there 7 floors...lets just say you could get lost in their, very easily. After we did a little shopping, we found a taxi. Let's just say he wasn't the most friendly guy...then again i guess most taxi drivers aren't probably friendly, they just want your money; just like everyone else here. When we got back to our hotel i noticed one of many homeless men on the sidewalk. we walked to walgreens & i bought him a bag of popcorn and a bottle of water.  When I went out and gave it to him he thanked me, blessed me, and then blessed the water & the popcorn...all in a language that i couldn't understand.  but i didn't care, i'm just glad that i helped him be a little less hungry for the night. I finished up the good night by having a music filled video chat date with the one and only Mr. Alex Pecoraro, who i will see in 3 days. &hopefully the rest of you shortly after that. (:

Day Five; SEGGING!

me about to get on "lord of the Seg"

yeah, thats right be jealous-Dad & I went on a super segway tour! we got the sexy blue vests & fabulous yellow hats. We also had nifty ear pieces to here our tour guide (jack). First, we had to take segway "class"; we learned how to get on & off the seg, we learned how to go stop & turn...all very important things to know when you are on a segway. Apparently though, i am not very good at the emergency-butt-stops. this is so you can stop quickly, by putting your butt far out and back in right away..not my strongest ability & it didn't look like the most normal thing either. lol. after our class we headed out on to the san fran crazy streets. we went everywhere, fisherman's warf, little italy, and so on. it was awesome. we finally stopped at a pier and got to take pictures on our segways & the views. although, there were two negatives to the tour-there was an older couple from india in our group..lets just say they didn't get the hang really of how to work it.. i.e. there were some almost collisions due to them. the second negative is that i could really use a foot massage after all that standing..yet no one is willing to volunteer to massage my feet here..maybe i'll get a certain some one to when i get home.. cough cough..you know who you are oO. Otherwise, best thing we have done on this trip yet! I highly recommend segway tours, definitely worth you money & time. Oh, and did i mention, the weather couldn't be anymore perfect. Now we're off to do one of my favorite things...SHOPPPPING! 

On the pier! 

Day Four; Crookedness & Some More.

never take things for granted, cause you don't know when the'll be gone.

I'm getting forced to take a picture while
 the mister is happily misting me...

crookedest street in the world.

First off, i'd like to apologize, i didn't do my daily 2 posts of the day... i should be ashamed, but i however did not have any access to wifi throughout the day. Anywhos, we started off the day by renting this very nice ford explorer? idk, i'm terrible with cars.. We then ventured out to fair valley (3 hours away!) but hey, i'll go 10,000 miles for warmer weather...oh wait that why i thought i was here.. when we finally arrive to fair valley, its 85 degrees! wahhooo! and my oh my it is beautiful there.. sorry i didn't get any photos-i was more concentrating on food.. We finally found a nice hotel place? (i'm terrible at remembering names) but the food was delicious..except we were sitting out side, and a mister kept misting on me! anywhos, we walked around the downtown area, it has a lot of little boutiques and fancy schmancy stuff like that. then we headed to Life Kind mattresses, my parents had an appointment to lay on beds. who knew you had to have an appointment to lay on a bunch of beds-apparently not me. While they were being lazy bums and laying on beds, i was jamming to some buble, maroon 5, katy perry, adele, and so on..in case you wanted to know. lol. after that we did some more shopping downtown fair valley, it was so nice to be in warm weather & not needing a sweatshirt.  After that, we headed back to san frann, boy this trip went 5 times slower on the way home..especially when you have a full bladder ten minutes into the trip.. when we finally reached san fran, we went down lombard street, the most crookedest street in the world. (i didn't even know crookedest was a word..apparently my mac book did..) so the road pretty much turns ever 10 feet, and again and again.. my mom thought it was so fun that we went again...i thought it was fun too until i became very..very car sick..i think my tummy needs some resting.. good night all, see you in a few days. (:

Day Three; "It's So Damn Cold!"

3 and a half hours of being on a bus is one long time. Luckily, we got to make a few stops. &don't you think for $141, they would at least provide some lunch..but noooo, my lunch consisted of milano cookies, and a soft pretzel-high quality you know. throughout the bus tour we got to see much of san frann, (the only reason i say san frann so much is cause i get to frustrated spelling out francisco overtime.) &lets just say san fran is huge! there are so many different parts of the city-the industrial, italian, chinese, rich, and so much more. When we went through a lot of the parts of town, there were a lot of homeless people there, i have never seen so many homeless people in my life. This really got me thinking-never take things for granted, you don't know when they'll be snatched right under your feet. St0p one was twin peaks, that place was gorgeous. But in my mother's famous words of the week, "it's so damn cold," she was right, it's very windy when your thousands of miles up. Our next stop was at the Golden Gate State park. That place was a beauty too, even though we didn't get much time to look. (that's where i got my fancy mediocre warm soft pretzel.) we didn't stay outside to long, because, of course, "it's so damn cold!". our final stop was at the glorious Golden Gate bridge. and wow, it was so damn cold! but the view and the bridge its self was breath taking. i'd go there another day, when its not so cold. After the tour, i took a nice 2 hour or so nap- i think all this cold weather is giving me a cold. we ended the night with probably the best pizza ever. now we have to rest up for some warm weather tomorrow. oh & we will be driving ourselves...this will be scary, hopefully i'll leave to tell you about it..P.s. GO CUBS! 

Day Three; Sketchy

This whole time difference thing still messes me up-you'd think an 18 year old could figure this out..but nope this girl can't. I guess its good cause i get to eat at 9:30 (your time) when it's 7:30 (cali time.) We ate at a place called hollywood cafe-we could eat marilyn monroe, robert redford, or james dean. okay maybe not actually eat them, but that's what they were called.  [by the way, California has the best strawberries ever!] When we finished there we walked around for a bit, i spotted a Paris massage parlor. (as some of you know i really like paris, and want to go there some day.) Anywhos, after i got excited about that massage place, my dad proceeded to explain to me it wasn't a massage that i'm use to...let's just say its a very adult massage parlor; that changed my mind very quickly of wanting to go there. lol. *note to self-always look in to massage places, never just assume they are "safe". We now will do some more cheesy tourist stuff like taking a bust tour all over town, I'm sure I will take plenty of photos to prove. Hopefully it'll warm up soon too, its only like 57! You all should put your powers together and send some warm weather our way!!! 

Day Two; The Good Samaritan.

earrings (: 

We head down to the lobby, and I drop off a postcard to this little old asian guy to mail it. Before i even turn around to walk away, he is reading it! not just the address, but the whole thing.. because he stands for a good minute just looking at it-so Alex, a little guy read our postcard. lol. Pier 39 is a huge tourist spot, so hey why not check it out? So that is what we did, and oh my goodness, this place is HUGEEE. There are four main things you see here, people, shops, food and birds. I don't know if i mentioned this earlier.. but birds are EVERYWHERE & it's starting to freak me out. My parents decided to eat at a little crepe place & during the process my dad breaks the fork right in half, it was pretty funny. we then walked around the shopping area-there are a lot of cheesy tourist stores. finally, thanks to Kathy Bakke, we found the Harry Mason jewelry store. i'm pretty sure we spent almost an hour and almost $100 dollars there. i got a pair of earrings & 2 stud thingys that are temporarily- and i love them both. After that we went to dinner- i had a HUGE fried cod dinner. During that dinner i had a lightbulb idea! I saved the rest of my dinner and went on a look out for a homeless person on the street. (In San Fran, there are a lot of homeless people.) So the first guy i asked mumbled and asked if i had 85 cent...he was pretty sketchy so i just walked away. The second guy i went in a park, he seemed very grateful to receive some food. So my trip goal is to save all of our left overs and offering them to homeless people, and to be the best Samaritan i can be. After that, i ran all the way up to my hotel room to video chat will Alex and tell him all about it, nonetheless i was very excited about my good deed. Now, we have to rest up because we will be attending a 9 hour tour tomorrow. (don't worry i'll update you.) :]

a few at the Pier 39

Day Two; French Toast, Chocolate & Cupcakes.

6:31 am...I am up & wide awake.. how is this possible? Oh yeahh..California is 2 hours behind wisconsin. So we start off day by going to Joanne's Diner for breakfast. We were greeted by this blonde asian guy who was very friendly, (overly friendly.) He told me i was a sweet girl and lets just say i was tad creeped out. I had a nice helping of french toast & my parents had huge servings of oatmeal. We then headed over to Ghirardelli Square where there are a lot of quaint stores and of course chocolate! My favorite place was a cupcake store, I had a delicious cupcake-Vanilla with Vanilla frosting, the best. It has finally warmed up here, 62 degrees! oof thats said that i'm excited about such cool weather. p.s. i really want to go on a segway tour..lets see if i can convince my parents that $70.00 per person isn't that ridiculous..

Day One; Later On.

Oof. That was a long flight, (4 hours and something minutes to be exact.)  We then took a shuttle-& did that look sketchy. & boy was i right. that was the bumpiest and craziest ride ever. (cali drivers are insane, more crazy than the illinois drivers. lol.) during our ride we saw much of san fran, including a guy in a skirt, [i'm pretty positive it wasn't a kilt,] riding a scooter...hmm don't know what to think about that. Our hotel is located in the Fisherman's Warf and it is nice, except there is no pool! So much for bringing my suit and using it.. Once we settled in our room, we searched for a place to eat. and searched and searched. Finally we ended up eating at Pompei's Grotto. An italian restaurant, my food was deliciouso, my parents not so much. oh well. Since it is so cold here, we went to starbucks, I ordered a Grande Chai Tea Latte, and then spilt it all over the counter... yeah my bad. we then headed back to our hotel for the night. we are just plain exhausted from our long day, and def have to rest up for the week. adios!

Day One; The Morning.

Waking up at 4:30 in the morning is not my cup of tea.

View from the plane

Sour Patch Kids from my Amazing Boyfriend!

I however, reluctantly did. We arrived to the Milwaukee Airport around 8. Then finding out that our plane was delayed until 10:50, due to fog in San Fran. Everything was going smoothly until we had to walk through security. Dad set it off 3 times, (later finding out a wheel chair was too close and setting it off.) Mom opted out of the full body security so she had to get set aside and was carefully patted down by a TSA worker. (That was quite entertaining to watch.) And I successfully walked through security without setting any alarms off. We then arrive to gate C14 and waited for about two hours. We sat near an adorable blonde baby boy, and a nice guy who let my charge my laptop. I ended up eating the most crumbly bagel in my lap-lets just say I looked like a mess. When we finally board the plane & it takes off. I find out that it cost $13.00 to actually use the wifi on the plane. (That is plane ridiculous!) So hear I am, on our 4 hour flight, using up my 13 dollars worth and creating this nifty blog and enjoying sour patch kids. The view outside the plane is goregous-I snatched up the window seat very quickly. Hopefully we'll land safe and sound! (: